Process for lasting shoes



March 24, 1953 E. 1. LA CHAPELLE 2,632,189

PROCESS FOR LASTING SHOES Filed April 24, 1952 x 2 SHEETS-SHEET 1 March 24, 1953 E. 1. LA CHAPELLE 2,632,189

PROCESS FOR LASTING SHOES Filed April 24, 1952 2 SHEETS-SHEET 2 Patented Mar. 24, 1953 UNITED STATES PATET EFICE EPROCESS FOR LASTING SHOES Application April 24, 1952, Serial No. 284,025

1 Claim.

This invention relates to a process for lasting shoes by a novel procedure for performing the assembling operation and the pulling over operation, based on a novel combination of lasting steps in a sequence of co-operating lasting steps, giving new beneficial results never before attained.

The term shoe occurring in the specification and in the claim, is to be interpreted to include the term boot; the term upper is to be interpreted to include its customary components, such as a lining, a toe-box, and a counter; and the term straining as directed to the upper, is to be interpreted to include the term stretching, dependent upon the nature of the material forming the upper.

Furthermore, the whole patentable subject matter of this patent resides in the novel process for lasting shoes herein shown, described and claimed, and no claim is made for anything else, as the process is not dependent upon any particular means for its practice, and the type of shoe (Goodyear welt shoe type) and the type of contractile-expansive last (Arnold hinge last type) are herein shown for convenience only.

The principle involved in the customary procedure of pulling over shoes diiferentiates from the herein disclosed principle involved in the practice of my novel process, in that in the customary procedure the upper is strained lengthwise of the last in the performance of the first step of the pulling over operation (termed drafting) by engaging the upper at its toe-end and strongly straining the upper as a whole against the heel-end and the toe-end of the last, thereby advantageously shaping and moulding the upper to the shape of the toe-end and the heel-end of the last, but at the same time, disadvantageously moving the upper away from the top of the last at the shankpart and forepart thereof, thus making for a very laborious side lasting operation and the need of extra strong strain upon the upper, oftentimes causing irreparable damage to the upper and/or its lining.

In contradistinction to the principle involved in the practice of the process herein disclosed, of firstly conditioning the toe-end of the upper in holding engagement with the toe-end of the last and thereafter, while the last is collapsed to a state of contraction of engaging the heelend of the upper and straining the upper lengthwise against the toe-end of the said last, avoids undue movement of the upper away from the top of the last notably in the hollow, back of the toe of the last.

The principle involved in the practice of the process herein disclosed, insofar as to the straining of the upper lengthwise of the last in the performance of the drafting operation upon the upper, is already disclosed in a patent to La- Chapelle, for Method of Lastin Boots and Shoes, No. 1,537,120, dated May 12, 1925, but the applicant has since discovered that the toe-end of the upper, including the toe-box, when existent, has to be strongly strained against the toe-end of the last to be moulded to the shape of the last to adopt the form of the last, preparatory to the performance of the final lasting steps upon the toe of the upper, which beneficial results at the toe-end of the upper are not and cannot be attained by the method disclosed in the said patent, as the sides of the upper, back of the toe of the last, have been pulled over and fastened to the insole on the last prior to the performance of the drafting operation upon the upper lengthwise of the last.

My invention has for prime objective the shaping and moulding of the toe-end and heel-end of an upper, and of its component parts when existent, to the exact form of the toe-end and heelend of the last by the performance of a pulling over operation that will not cause the upper to move from the top of the last, to the end that the final lasting operations upon the sides, the toe and the heel of the upper may be better 'and more easily performed than heretofore possible, and so much so as to be greatly helpful in making the said final lasting operations to be properly performed by automatic lasting machines.

lviy invention further contemplates the elimination of practically all damage to the upper proper or to its lining and of all cripples in the performance of far superior, far less laborious and far more rapid performance of the assemb-ling and pulling over operations and at far less cost than heretofore possible, and thus likewise in the performance of the final lasting operations at the sides, at the toe, and at the heel of the upper.

My invention still further contemplates the economical aspect of making possible the use of upper leather of a grade consistent with the grade of shoe for which intended and not of a higher grade simply to avoid damage to the upper leather under the strain to which subjected, notably by the pulling over machine and the side lasting machine, where the upper is unduly strained and moved away from the top of the last by one machine and is again unduly strained in general run of shoe factories.

As shown in the accompanying drawings: Figure 1 shows a contractile-expansive last of the well known type generally in use, and an i.

insole, intended for a shoe of the well-known Goodyear welt type, assembled thereon;

Figure 2 shows an apparatus, including a shoe horn, preferably adopted by the applicant for the practice of his aforesaid process of assembling and of pulling over shoes, and the said last, shown in 1, with an upper disposed thereon and fastened at its toe-end to the toe-end of the said last;

Figure 3 shows a detail View of said apparatus,

and of the said last collapsed to a state of contraction, preparatory to and during the time that the upper is being strained lengthwise against the toe-end of the said last and thereafter assemled to the heel of the said last by means of the 1 shoe horn of the said apparatus;

Figure 4: is a detail view similar to the detail view shown in Fig. 3, but showing the said last expanded, after the upper has been assembled to the heel of the said last and the shoe horn has been removed from between the heel of the upper and the heel of the said last, thus fully straining the upper lengthwise against the toe-end and the heel-end of the said last and thereby shaping and moulding the upper, and its components when t existent, to the form of the toe-end and heel-end of the said last;

Figure 5 shows the shoe removed from the said apparatus after the upper has been lasted on the said last in accordance with the process herein disclosed for assembling and pulling over an upper on a last.

As further shown in the accompanying drawings:

I, preferably, have provided a contractile-exit pansive last i, termed a hinge-last which now is in general use and which, when collapsed to the state of contraction, shortens the said. last to the approximate extent of one-quarter inch; and I have provided a welt shoe insole 2, upon which I have provided a demarcation 3, whereby the length of the tips in a given number of uppers may be all predetermined, and the said insole has been assembled to the said last and is held in assembled condition by the lasting tacks 4, which are disposed only at the forepart of the said last to permit collapse of the forepart thereof and thereby to be shortened, as shown in Fig. 3, preparatory to and during the time of the lengthwise straining movement upon the upper 5, in the performance of the drafting operation, which upper when incorporating its customary components, such as the lining, and a toe-box and a counter which, as customary, are coated with cementitious material and moistened preparatory to the performance of the assembling and pulling over operation upon the upper, to bring about moulding of the same to the shape of the last, and, as shown, the toe-end of the upper has been disposed in assembled condition on the toe-end of the kill said last and fastened to the toe-end of the said insole and or" the said last by the lasting tacks 6, best shown in Fig. 5, which assembling constitutes the carrying out, necessarily at this time, of the first step in assembling and pulling over the upper in accordance with the practice of my novel process for lasting shoes, as denoted by the letter A, the remaining steps B, C, D, E. and F to be hereinafter referred to. As thus assembled, the partly made shoe is shown mounted on the apparatus l, which is adapted to support the shoe and to assemble the heel of the upper to the heel of the said last in the practice of my novel process for lasting shoes, and which apparatus comprises the base 3, upon which is mounted a column 9, into which is threaded an upper column section iii, which is adapted to be adjusted in upward and downward directions for convenience of the operator, and which is held in adjusted position by the split-collar H, and which is provided with the locking means iii. The said column section iii, is rotatably mounted in the column section it, at Ida and a locking pin I31), engages a groove in the lower column section whereby the said rotatable section it, is held from upward movement and through which section passes the portion M, and the shaft 95, supporting the toesupport l t, which is fastened to the said shaft by a pin If. A compression spring i8, is disposed under the collar i9, fastened on the shaft !5, by the pin 2i whereby the said compression spring may be forced downwardly with the shaft l5, passing through the collar 2i, and I have pro= vided a swivel connection 22, which is connected to the rod 23, and which is adjustably held by the block 2a, to the additional rod 25, passing through the block 26, and which is connected to the foot treadle 2'5, which is locked from upward movement by the spring-lock 28, mounted on the base 8, of the said apparatus, which spring-lock may be released by the operators foot whenever need be. An extension 29, on the uppermost column section, supports the slide 39, upon which is mounted the slidable block 3!, which may be moved toward and from the toe-support l6, and which supports the lastsupporting pin 32. On the same base 8, and forming part of the said apparatus l, I have provided means adapted to strain an upper, as a whole, lengthwise against the toe-end of the said last, and thereafter, to assemble the heel of the upper to the heel of the said last, the said means comprising the column 38, having an upper column section adjustably mounted on the lower column section, and held in adjusted position by a collar B l, and I have provided the locking means 35, and a compression spring 36, normally urging the foot treadle ti, upwardly through the connecting rods 39 and it, on the slidable blocks 38, and passing through the block id, and which are locked on the said block by the set screws 42 and $3. I have provided the shoe horn at, such as used in relasting turn shoes, which is connected to the strap 55, which is connected to the block 38, so that in depressing the foot treadle 371, the said shoe horn is moved to strain the upper lengthwise against the toe-end of the last under manipulation of the said shoe horn by the operator in first setting it withn the heel of the upper and then on the heel-end of the said last and in then forcing the upper portion of the shoe horn in a rearward direction from its fulcrum on the heel-end of the said last, until the heel of the upper comes into alignment with the heel of the said last, when he forces the shoe horn in a downward direction in assembling the heel of the upper to the heel of the said last, as shown in Fig. 3, of the accompanying drawings.

Reverting to the first step of assembling an upper to the toe-end of a last of the contractileexpansive type, such as shown set on the apparatus shown in Fig. 2, it is important to further explain that, for example, without limiting the invention to the use of any particular kind or form of upper or of contractile-expansive last, the operator of the said apparatus in being provided with a contractile-expansive last and an upper incorporating, as customary, a lining, and a toe-box and a counter coated with cementitious material and moistened and properly assembled to the said upper, introduces the said last into the aperture essentially provided on the upper for the introduction of the foot therein, and thereafter the operator disposes the last upon the lastsupporting pin of the said apparatus and moves the last-supporting pin and the last towards the toe-support and then after setting the toepart of the last upon the toe-support and the tipseam of the upper into alignment with the demarcation provided on the insole for predetermining the length of tips in a given number of uppers, he assembles the toe-end of the upper in holding engagement with the toe-end of the last, while the heel-end of the upper is upstanding on the heel of the last and is set inwardly i to a predetermined distance from the heel-end of the last whereby the extent of the straining movement upon the upper as a whole, but notably at the toe-end, may be predetermined when being strained lengthwise of the last at the subsequent drafting step of the pulling over operation. In any event, the strain upon the toe-end and heelend of the upper at the performance of the drafting step must be of such extent as to very strongly strain and thereby shape and mould the toeend and heel-end of the upper, and of component parts when. existent, to the exact form of the last, preparatory to, and of necessity for best beneficial results in the performance of the final lasting steps upon the toepart and heelpart of the upper and eventually upon the sides of the upper. Thereafter the operator depresses the foottreadle and. moves the toe-support downwardly until the foot-treadle is in engagement with the locking means holding it from upward movement; thereafter the operator collapses the last to a state of contraction, leaving the rearpart of the insole upstanding from the heel of the last, as shown in Fig. 3, thereafter the operator introduces the shoe-horn within the heelpart of the upper, the lower part of the shoe-horn resting on the heel-end of the last which then serves as a fulcrum for the rocking of the shoe-horn inwardly and causing the upper part of the shoehorn to move away from the heel-end of the last and straining the heelpart of the upper, and the upper as a whole, lengthwise against the toeend of the last in the performance of the most vital step of the pulling over operation, namely the drafting step, and when the heel-end of the upper has been moved into alignment with the heel-end of the last, the operator depresses the foot-treadle to which the shoe-horn is connected, and moves the shoe'horn downwardly and out of the upper in the last stage of assembling the upper to the last. (Then the operator may secure together the quarters of the upper with the well known Ellis laser to prevent spreading outwardly of those portions of the upper under the influence of the strain upon the sides of the upper at the eventual performance'of the side lasting operation.) Thereafter the operator expands the last, and then unlocks the foot-treadle to allow for the toe-support to move upwardly against the toepart of the last, and thereafter the operator performs the pulling over operation upon those portions of the upper situated at the sides of the toepart of the last and he fastens those said portions of the upper in pulled over condition on the last.

It is important to explain that, the lasting step of the pulling over operation which is performed at the sides of the toepart of the upper, due to the precedently performed co-operating lasting steps in the practice of my process for lasting shoes, advantageously makes for a less strenuous side-of-toe pulling over operation than heretofore possible, whereby substantially the same moderate degree of strain upon the sides of the upper at the side lasting operation, takes place upon the sides of the toepart of the upper and the heretofore frequent serious condition of a torn vamp-lining in the immediate vicinity of the tipseam of the upper, is eliminated; and thus the said lasting step of the pulling over operation contributes greatly in the bringing forth of new beneficial results never before attained.

Thus, all the lasting steps comprised in my novel combination of lasting steps in a sequence of cc-operating lasting steps, giving new benficial results never before attained, having been availed of in the practice of my novel process for lasting shoes and recited in the appended claim, the operator now may or may not, at his option, perform the additional lasting steps as denoted at B, D, E and E, which additional lasting steps are extraneous to my novel process for lasting shoes and for which no claim is made and which have been herein shown for convenience only. Thereafter, as shown at D, the operator preferably performs an extra pulling over operation in engaging and strongly straining the upstanding so-called dog ears of the upper and the toebox at the corners of the toe of the last, heightwise of the last and in a diagonal rearward direction over the insole on the last and he then drives at least one tack at each side of the toe of the last for holding those portions of the upper in pulled over condition on the last; thereafter, the operator sets and fastens the rear portion of the upstanding insole and he then performs the two most important side lasting steps, denoted at E and P (which heretofore always had been performed by hand with lasting pincers and lasting tacks by the operator of the side lasting machine preparatory to passing the shoe to the machine) and in the performance of these two most important side lasting steps the upper and its lining are strained by a compound pulling movement (termed Ramsey pull) first straining the upper heightwise of the last and then, by a turn of the lasting pincers, diagonally toeward, thus advantageously taking out the slack of the upper at the heel, when performed at E, and the slack of the upper along the shank, when performed at F, and then advantageously contributing with the drafting of the upper at the pulling over operation, in stretching the upper lengthwise of the last, which is conducive to hold the shoe in original shape during the time of wear.

As shown in Fig. 5, the shoe now is in readiness for the performance of the final lasting operations at the sides, the toe, and the heel of the upper and is first passed to the side lasting machine, for which I, preferably, would a substitute the well known Goodyear upper stapling machine for the performance of the side lasting operation upon the upper, step by step, in wiping the upper, without undue strain or resistance, since the upper had not been moved away from the top of the last at the drafting operation, and then stapled by the said machine with fine wire staples passing therethrough and through the sewing rib of the welt shoe insole. When side lasting shoes of the McKay type or the like, a side lasting machine then may be provided with lasting grippers, set under very mild tension, as then as in the case of welt shoes, the upper would offer no undue resistance and the tension upon the grippers would only serve in setting the upper over and on the bottom of the last to be fastened in side lasted condition to the insole on the last.

I claim:

In the procedure for performing the assembling operation and the pulling over operation upon an upper, having a forepart and a heelpart, disposed on a contractile-expansive last, having a forepart and a heelpart, and an insole disposed thereon, having a forepart and a heelpart, the combination of lasting steps in a sequence of co-operating lasting steps com prising, the introduction of the forepart of the said last within the forepart of the upper through the aperture essentially provided for the introduction of the foot therein, thereafter assembling the toe-end of the upper on the toeend of the said last in conditioning the toe-end of the upper in holding engagement with the toe-end of the said last, while leaving the sides of the upper unattached and free to move lengthwise of the said last under the influence of the lengthwise straining movement upon the upper against the toe-end of the said last at the subsequent performance of the drafting step of the pulling over operation upon the upper, while the top of the heelpart of the upper is disposed upon the heelpart of the said last at a predetermined distance inwardly of its heelend, whereby a uniform extent of straining movement upon the toe-end of a given number of uppers may be predetermined, thereafter collapsing the said last to a state of contraction, thereafter performing the drafting step of v the pulling over operation by straining the heelpart of the upper, and the upper as a whole, lengthwise in a rearward direction against the toeend of the said last until the top of the heelpart of the upper has been moved in alignment with the heel-end of the said last, thereafter assembling the heelpart of the upper to the heelpart of the said last, thereafter expanding REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,030,763 Ashton June 25, 1912 1,289,633 Brothers Dec. 31, 1918 LaChapelle May 12, 1925 

